Should I upgrade from OS X Mavericks to Yosemite?

I have a 2009 MacBook, I bought it new. It has 2.13GHz and 2GB Ram. I have always kept up with all of the free upgrades that Apple put out. Apple does not make this model anymore. I did upgrade to Yosemite and I wish I hadn't. While there are ways to 'downgrade', by using any of them, the risk of losing all of your data, documents, and settings is too great. Since I've upgraded to Yosemite, my computer is very slow, but the most probable reason is that I have used up all of the memory. I have ordered an expansion kit to expand the memory to 4GB. I have not received it yet, so I cannot comment on how my computer will work once I add more memory.

However, I would recommend that you do upgrade, but first: MacBooks have this thing called Time Machine. It backs up everything on your computer every time you use it. You'll need an external hard drive. If your computer does not have Time Machine set up, you can set it up and it will tell you how much data it will need to back up and the size of the hard drive you'll need to do so. Time Machine icon is at the top right of the screen, with a clock and an arrow going counterclockwise.

Whether or not you decide to upgrade, configuring your time machine is a good idea anyway, because if you ever have any problems with your computer, you will have a back up.

I have had my computer for 5.5 years, and I love it. It's an antique, but I love it. When this one dies, I am going to buy another Mac. I am never going back to Windows. Another important thing to remember, is to shut down the computer regularly. I went to the Apple store to get my Mac looked at and the guy there showed me that I have not restarted my computer in 42 days. Yikes! I always keep Safari open because of school, so I don't bother turning my computer off. But doing that makes it really slow because it saves all of the information in a very unorganized way. Turning the computer off is like spring cleaning, it's a fresh start. Just turning my computer off made a difference.

Sorry for an essay, but I just wanted to share my personal experiences with Apple.

There should not be any problems updating to Yosemite. Millions of people are using it without any problems and most of those that claim to have problems could usually be resolved in minutes.

Increasingly, as with One Note, software will require the new system so you will need to update at some point.

There are no particular instructions. You just click on the Install button in the App Store. Allow an hour or so but it will depend on the speed of your Internet connection. Leave it to do its thing. It will automatically restart and do some more stuff and then it will start up as normal.

https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-yosemite/id91504...

Just go ahead and search "Yosemite" in the App Store. It should be there. As for security, it's extremely unlikely that anything will go break while it's updating. It's more likely that you will get in a car wreck than it is for the update to break the system. Some people like Yosemite and some hate it, but generally using it is the same. It's all about preference. I love it and haven't noticed any slowdowns but I have a different model than you.